William Roden quickly received the supplies he wanted, along with new orders from London.
London's orders were naturally for him to find a soft persimmon to squeeze, the goal being to pressure the American government. The British believed the reason the Americans refused to surrender or negotiate was simply that the pressure was not great enough.
The British Cabinet was remarkably united in its view of America. They believed a quick victory was impossible, and that occupying the entire United States was already out of the question.
So what Britain needed now was not to expand its gains, but to preserve the fruits of victory and reduce its losses. To do that, they needed to force the Americans back to the negotiating table.
Although William Roden did not want to share the credit with anyone, he still invited the navy to join the attack in order to ensure victory.
Philadelphia lay by the sea and possessed the largest estuarine port in the United States at the time. If the navy destroyed Philadelphia's docks, it would inevitably crush the morale of the US Army stationed there.
At the time, bulk goods were often stockpiled in warehouses near the port. If the British army happened to burn them down during the raid, the entire city's will to resist would collapse in an instant.
The British Royal Navy had once disdained cooperating with the British Army, much less taking orders from it.
But the Royal Navy's record in recent years had been truly unimpressive, and in the eyes of naval commanders, fighting in North America was nothing but bullying weaklings. Naturally, they would not let this opportunity slip away.
Thus, the British forces advanced in tandem by land and sea, swearing to take Philadelphia.
But the British had overlooked one problem: Philadelphia was